Case-shift mechanism for typewriters



c. D. 'YOUNGBERG CASE SHIFT MECHANISM FOR TYPEWRITERS 2 Sheets-She et 1Filed Jan. 2, 1925 Dec. 18, 1928.-

- 1 1,695,520 c. D. YOUNGBERG 1 CASE SHIFT MECHANISM FOR TYPEWRITERS .2,I 6 35m 1925 I 2 Sheets Shoe 2 Patented Dec. 18, 19 28.

"CONRAD D. Younesnimer woozosro'ox, rumors, assienoa 11o WOODSTOCK TYPE-wnrrnn COMPANY, or WOODSTOCK-ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION or ILLINOIS;

cAsn-snrr'r MEci-rANIs n ron TYPEWR-ITERS;

Application filed January 2, 11925. Serial No. 31.

This invention relates to mechanism for effecting case shifting of powerdriven apparatus such as that shown inthe application of Otto A.Hokanson Serial No. 732,615, filed August 18,1924, granted January 18,

1927, as Patent No. 1,614,475, for an im provement in power actuatedtypewriters. The present invention has for itsobject the provision ofcase shift mechanism which shall be of improved construction andoperation and in which the movement and release of the movable partshall be under the control of the operator and shall be produced with aminimum amountof exertion. The invention is exemplified in thecombination and an rangement of parts shown'in the accompanying drawingsand described in the following specification and it is a more.particularly pointed out in the appended claims. In the drawings: Figure1-is a vertical sectional view of a typewriting machine showing oneembodiment of the present invention; and

, Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1,"showing a slightly differentformof the invention.

Referring first to Fig. '1, the numeral designates} the frame of atypewriter machine which is provided with a rotary power drum 11 foractuating the type bars in the manner described in the applicationreferred to above. At one side of the frame 10 and:

at oneend of the drum 11 a pinion 12 is secured to the drum ll whichmeshes with an idler pinion 13 which in turn drives a larger gear 14.The gear 14 is mounted on a stud shaft 15 secured to the side ofthefra'me 10 and the pinion 13 may be-journaled ona bracket 16 alsoprojecting from the side of the frame 10. The gear 14 has. a ratchetwheel 17 formed integral therewith and disposed in registration with atooth 18 on an actuator bar 19. The tooth 18 is normally held upwardlyand rearwardlyby a spring 20. The rear end of the actuator 19 is pivandhaving one face thereof 31 arranged to bear againsta detent 32. Thedetent 32 is provided with. a shoulder 33 movable into engagement withthe shoulder 34 on the stop to retain the case shift frame in itsuppermost position. The detent 32 ispivotally mounted at 35 and isprovided with a spring 36 normally urging the detent against the face31. A-shi-ft lever 37 is pivotally mount-' ed at 3'8 and is providedwith a contact finger 39 engaging a lug 40 on the actuator 19. When theshift lever 37 is depressed a suffic ent amount to bring the tooth 18into the path of the tooth on the ratchet wheel 17 the actuator 19 willbe drawn forwardly by the rotation of the ra tchetwheel 17 "so that-thelink'25 will move the'shiftfra'me 28 about its a pivot 41 until theshoulder 33 on the detent 32 .engages the shoulder 34 on the stop 30.This will lock the shift frame in its uppermost position where it willremain until the detent 32 is released inthe manner tobe described. Theactuator tooth 18 will be, moved into-contact with a release screw 42which will throw the actuator out of engagement with the ratchet wheel17 and cause it to be drawn upwardly by the spring 20 out of the path ofthe teeth on the wheel 17.

The detent 32 is provided with a downwardly extending arm 43 whichcarries a link '44 pivoted at 45 thereon. The forward end ofthe link 44is provided with a nose 46 disposed adjacent the teeth of the ratchetwheel 17. A plate47 is adjustably mounted on the link 44 and is provided,withacain lug 48 which engages a screw-49adjustably mounted in a guidepl'ate50. 'lVlien the detent 32 is in the position shown in Fig. 1 withvthe link 44 retracted, the cam face 4'8cooperat ing with the screw49holds the nose 46 out of thecpath of the teeth on the ratchet wheel17. When the detent 32 rotates upon its pivot 35 to lock the'shift framein its uppermost position the cam face 48 will move forward to permitthe nose 46 to swing upwardly into contact with the teeth on the ratchetwheel 17. So long {as the shift lever 37 is depressed, however', a pin51 on the side of the lever 37 will engage the link 44 and prevent thenose 46 from swinging into engagement with the ratchet wheel 17. As soonas the shift lever is released, however, the link 44 will be free toswing upwardly underthe influence of a spring 52 connectedtherewith sothat the nose 46 will be brought into engagement with the teetlioftheratchet'wheel 1 17. This will move'the link44 rearwardl-y so as todisengage the shoulder 33 from the stop 30 and permit the shift frame 28to return to its lowermost position. The same rearward movement willbring thecam face 48 into engagement with the screw 49 so as to retainthe nose d6 out of the path of the teeth on the ratchet wheel 17. Itwill thus be seen that on a slight depression of the shift key thecarriage will be automatically raised to effect a case shiftingmovement. The power for raising the carriage is furnished from the powerdriven roller 11, the movement of the shift key alone being sufficientto move the actuator 19 into engagement with the teeth of the ratchetwheel 17. As long as the shift key is held. in its depressed positionthe platen will remain in its upper case position but soon as the shiftkey is released the locking mechanism will be disengaged by the powerdriven ratchet wheel 17 so that the parts will be restored to theirlower case position without further effort on the part of the operator.It will be noted that the ratchet wheel 17 is driven at a lower speedthan is the main power drum 1.1. In some cases this may be founddesirable because of the greater weight of the parts moved during caseshifting than that of the parts actuated for writing.

In the form of the invention shown in Fig. 2 the parts are similar tothose described in connection with Fig. 1 except that the actuator 19for the case shift mechanism is arranged to directly engage the mainpower drum 11 and the nose piece l6 of the release link 44 also engagesthe main power drum 11. WVhere rapid movement of the case shiftmechanism is desired and where the weight of the shifted parts does notinterfere with this rapid operation, the arrangement shown in Fig. 2 maybe employed.

A single link 44 is provided at one side of the machine only, but it maybe operated by shift levers 37 at either side of the machine. Theselevers are connected bya rock shaft and arms 56, the arms being fixed tothe rock shaft and pivoted, one to each of the shift levers 37. In thisway depression of either shift lever will actuate the shift mechanism asthe two shift levers are constrained to act in unison.

I claim:

1. In a typewriting machine, a case shift member, a continuouslyoperating power drive, an actuator for said ease shift member, a keylever for establishing connection between said power drive and actuator,and power actuated means other than said actuator for controlling thereturn of said case shift member after operation of said actuator.

2. In a typewriter, a case shift member, a power drive, an actuator forsaid case shift member, a key lever for effecting operative connectionbetween said actuator and power drive to move said ca se shift member, alatch for retaining said case shift member in the position to which itis moved by said actuator, means for releasing said latch, meanscontrolled by said key lever for connecting said latch releasing meanswith said power drive to effect release of said latch, and meansoperated by said key lever for preventing operation of said releasingmeans while said key lever is depressed.

3. In a typewriter, a case shift member, a power drive comprising acontinuously rotating toothed wheel, an actuator for said case shiftmember, a key lever for moving said actuator into engagement with saidtootl'ied wheel to effect a case shift move ment, a latch for retainingsaid case shift member in its shifted position, means for releasing saidlatch, and means controlled by said key lever for effecting operativeconnection between said latch releasing means and toothed wheel uponrelease of said key lever to effect release of said latch.

4. In a typewriter, a case shift member, k'ey controlled power actuatedmeans including a power drive for effecting a case shift movement ofsaidmember, a latch for retaining said member in its shifted position,an actuator for said latch movable into engagement with said powerdrive, means for retaining said actuator out of engagement with saidpower drive when said latch is released, and key controlled means forpreventing engagement of said power drive and actuator when said latchis engaged and said key lever is depressed but permitting engagement ofsaid power drive and actuator to release said latch upon the release ofsaid key lever.

5. In a typewriter, a case shift member, a latch for retaining said caseshift member in shifted position, a power driven member, a linkconnected with said latch and having means thereon for engaging saidpower driven member, a stop for holding said link out of operativeengagement with said power driven member when said latch is in releasedposition but permitting movement of said link into engagement with saidpower driven member when said latch is in engaged position, a key lever,and means on said key lever for holding said link out of operativeengagement with said power driven member when said key lever isdepressed but arrangedto permit the engagement of said link with saidpower driven member when said key lever is released and said latch is inengagement with said case shift member.

6. In a typewriter, a pivoted case shift member, a pivoted latch forholding said case shift member in one position, a power actuated drive,a link connected with said case shift member, key controlled means forestablishing operative connection between said link and said powerdrive, a link connected with said latch and key controlled means foreffecting operative connection between said last named link and saidpower drive. I

7. In atypewriter, a case shift member, a power drive comprising acontinously rotating toothed wheel, an actuator for said case shiftmember comprising a link having a tooth for engaging said wheel, a latchfor said case shift member, means for releasing said latch comprising alink having a tooth for engaging said wheel, and a key lever foreffecting engagement between the tooth on said actuator and the teeth onsaid wheel to efiect case shift movement when said key lever isdepressed, said key lever operating to establish connection between theteeth on said toothed wheel and the tooth on there leasing means forsaid latch to effect release of said latch when said key lever isreleased.

8. In a typewriter, a power actuated member for actuating a portion of atypewriter mechanism, a second power actuated member, reduction gearinginterposed between said power actuated members, case shift mechanlsm, akey lever for efiectmgconnection between said second power actuated'member and said case shift mechanism, a

latch for automatically retaining said case shift mechanism in itsshifted position, means for releasing said latch, and means foreffecting connection between said releasing means andsaid second poweractuated member upon release of said key lever.

9. In a typewriting machine, a case shift member mounted to rock about ahorizontal axis, a continuously operating power drive, an actuator forrocking said case shift member, a key lever for establishing connectionbetween said power drive and actuator, and power-actuated meansindependent of said actuator for controlling the return of said caseshift member after operation of said actuator. v

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification on this29th day of December, A. D. 1924.

CONRAD D. YOUNGBERG.

